The Legend of Sixkiller: He Was Ready When Husky QBs Dropped Like Dominoes
Gene Willis started as at quarterback for two seasons at Washington, given the difficult task as a sophomore and junior of keeping losing Husky football teams together as best he could.
Willis was an productive option runner but an average passer. He was a little on the shy side, but considered good leader.
Looking back at it, the most enlightening thing this somewhat reserved player from Ashland, Oregon, might have done during his time in Seattle was pass along an intuitive recruiting tip to Bob Schloredt, his UW quarterback coach and the two-time Rose Bowl most valuable player.
"You need to take a look at this skinny kid named Sixkiller," Willis told Schloredt, referencing one of his high school teammates.
Fast forward 12 months later to April 25, 1970, and Willis was a UW senior when he went down under a heavy rush in spring drills. A defender and a blocker fell on his extended leg early in the first full-fledged scrimmage. He got up with torn left knee ligaments and trudged off the field on his own power. Surgery came for him two days later.
Not by choice, Willis left the quarterback job in the hands of the soon-to-be sophomores Greg Collins and ... Sonny Sixkiller.
Willis' injury was the big news of the day. But the fact that Collins and Sixkiller went on to launch a combined more than 40 passes and complete 20 on a cold, windy afternoon had people buzzing, as well.
It was so un-Husky-like.
Thus began a spirited competition between the untested backups. It was one that didn't last long at all.
A week later, the UW football team traveled 150 miles to Wenatchee, Washington, and conducted a public scrimmage in front of 2,000 fans, agreeing to be part of the town's Apple Blossom Festival. The change in venue did nothing to alter the Huskies' offensive approach.
In a split-squad contest that ended 12-6, Sixkiller lobbed a screen pass to tailback Joe Bell that went 30 yards for a touchdown. Collins completed all four of his passes. Yet they were both upstaged by fellow sophomore quarterback Tom Roehl, the fourth-stringer who tiptoed up the sideline and raced in to score. Still, the ball was in the air a lot.
"We had a long bus ride to Wenatchee, worked out, had a slight scrimmage, and rode the bus back to Seattle," Sixkiller said. "I felt like I was in junior high on the bus, but the fans appreciated it."
Collins and Sixkiller went neck and neck for the remaining practices, trading places as the starter, though Sonny privately felt he often was at somewhat of a disadvantage.
"Collins was the coach's favorite," Sonny said of the California native, a blond, surfer dude. "We called him 'Solid Gold.' "
On May 17, Collins led the Huskies onto the field as the No. 1 quarterback for the 10th annual Alumni-Varsity game pitting the current players against former ones.
Oakland Raiders defensive end Ben Davidson, a brutish, mustachioed figure who later became a fan favorite in Bud Lite beer TV commercials -- tastes great, less filling -- and Washington Redskins running back Dave Kopay, who five years after this game made himself the first pro athlete to come out as gay, headed up the grads roster.
A boisterous crowd of 16,000 filed into a festive Husky Stadium, curious to see whether this team was really going to be as free-wheeling as some in the Seattle media had suggested. The event had a party-like atmosphere.
It turned out to be a sunny day -- and a Sonny day.
Collins lasted four plays, threw three passes, completed two and broke his collarbone when an Alumni player hit him on the last one.
He quickly joined Willis as UW quarterback casualties.
There wasn't a lot of mystery surrounding the position now.
"I was the only one left," Sixkiller said.